Efforts to improve the state of the art in the area of solar power generation; particularly in the area of building mounted generation has been receiving ever increasing industry focus over the last few years. A subset of building mounted generation is building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where the photovoltaic elements are integral parts of the building (such as providing exterior weather skin as in shingles or siding. Of particular importance is the goal of providing a reliable and durable solar power generation system that provides the most kilowatt hours (KwH) for the least amount of cost. Some of the issues associated with reaching this goal concern the ability of the generation system to be easy to assemble and install, have a relatively high KwH output, and be durable (e.g. hold up over time given the likely environmental conditions such as relatively high winds and rain). One particular issue related to durability is that of wind loading, such as determined via (Underwriters Laboratories) UL 1897, Tests for Uplift Resistance of Roof Assemblies. That is the ability of the system to resist damage when subjected to winds, for example, in excess of 100 miles per hour or more. One particular issue related to installation ease is the need to keep the BIPV from becoming active (e.g. producing electricity) before it is wanted. Other potential issues relates to alignment of adjoining solar devices, and potential packaging and shipping issues.
The current state of the art building mounted solar power generation systems take many forms, but can generally be characterized as either solar panels that are mounted to elaborate mounting structures (e.g. inside box frames, platform risers, for example: SunPower Model 31® by SunPower® of San José, Calif., USA) creating a solar power generation assembly with a cross sectional thickness (e.g. 25 mm or more) and a high stiffness (e.g. about 70000 MPa “MegaPascal”, Modulus of elasticity) or flexible laminate structures (e.g. rolled solar laminates offered by Uni-Solar® of Rochester Hills, Mich., USA) which are similar in cross sectional area thickness (e.g. about 1.5 to 7 mm) and stiffness (e.g. about 5 to 50 MPa) to typical asphalt roofing shingles. Of note, it is believed that traditional cedar shake type roofing shingles are typically about 1 to 5 times thicker than typical asphalt roofing shingles and have a stiffness of about 4000 to 9000 MPa, but do not suffer from wind uplift issues. It is not surprising that the SunPower type system does not suffer from wind uplift issues (e.g. due to the elaborate mounting structures and/or the high stiffness). It is also not surprising that the Uni-Solar type system can weather the wind uplift issue because the entire laminate is adhesively bonded to the building structure.
Among the literature that may pertain to this technology include the following patent documents: US Patent Publications: 20090000220; 20080245404; 20080245399; 20080196358; 20080196231; 20080083169; 20080000173; 20070295391; 20070193135; 20050229924; 20040216405; 20040206035; 20040083673; 20030188500; 20030154680; 20020066235; U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,299,598; 7,204,063; 7,178,295; 7,118,794; 6,845,592; 6,758,019; 6,725,623; 6,397,556; 6,247,289; 6,148,570; 5,950,387; 5,239,802; 4,686,808; 4,641,472; 4,641,471; 4,627,207; 4,586,301; 2,631,887; RE38988; and PCT Publications: WO2007123927A2; WO2007079382A2; WO2003071047A2, all incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.